DRUNK ENOUGH TO SAY I LOVE YOU? To 22 December.
London.
DRUNK ENOUGH TO SAY I LOVE YOU?
by Caryl Churchill.
Royal Court (Jerwood Theatre Downstairs) To 22 December 2006.
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat Sat 3.30pm.
Aufio-described 9 Dec 3.30pm.
Runs 45min No interval.
TICKETS: 020 7565 5000.
www.royalcourttheatre.com
Review: Timothy Ramsden 27 November.
Hits the target, but a one-shot drama.
Caryl Churchill always finds a form that’s just right for her subject, from the 3-act Top Girls to recent, short plays Far Away, A Number, and this new piece. All 3 could fit into a lengthy, but not abnormally long, programme.
Drunk Enough is a lovers’ conversation set on a sofa; almost a return to middle-class drama pre the Royal Court’s 1956 theatrical revolution. But there’s none of the old solid certainty. Here are 2 men, one English and talking about leaving his family to go off with his tall, dark, handsome American friend.
The play starts with the title as a line of dialogue, a question. The tense, past or present, is unclear. And it’s unclear whether Jack is responding to a question from Sam, or whether he’s questioning himself.
As the fragmentary speeches continue through the short scenes, the sofa bearing these 2 rises into the air, their own world where objects appear from and are dropped into a silent void. The phases of love are covered: consuming passion, happy contentment, gentleness, raging anger, before sofa and cast fly upwards into the empyrean of the Royal Court’s flytower.
The nationalities are important. English hesitation and American confidence take on, from the second scene, a political impact. The sole extended speech is a description of political torture, spoken by Sam while Jack’s taken a break from the relationship.
Both though, share an excitement which parallels lovers’ sense of completeness with the power-thrill of controlling a world they discuss as their dialogue criss-crosses decades of western politico-military involvement and its contradictory justifications.
It’s elegantly written, sharply pointed, and beautifully played in James Macdonald’s scrupulous production. But while Far Away and A Number both have a sense of complexity, this piece is limited by its single dramatic stratagem.
So, frankly, 25 quid for 45 minutes begins to seem rather costly. Has the Court no new writer with a single-act play worth putting into a double-bill, giving them the enhanced audiences Churchill will bring in? Wouldn’t that have been a fine way to celebrate 50 years of new writing in Sloane Square?
Sam: Ty Burrell.
Jack: Stephen Dillane.
Director: James Macdonald.
Designer: Eugene Lee.
Lighting: Peter Mumford.
Sound: Ian Dickinson.
Composer: Matthew Herbert.
Costume: Joan Wadge.
Assistant director: Lyndsey Turner.
2006-11-30 01:13:24